Lufthansa was forced to cancel about 56 domestic and European flights Friday morning owing to heavy snowfall across Germany. Flights were delayed by up to an hour. The airline said that all long-haul flights were expected to operate on time.
Midwest Airlines partnered with rival Northwest Airlines on a loyalty program initiative that will allow members to earn and redeem miles on each other's flights. Midwest members can redeem miles on KLM flights as well.
North American Airlines' damages owed to a pilot bringing an unlawful termination suit against the carrier were lowered from $12.6 million to $3.1 million by a California judge last week. The plaintiff has until March 13 to accept the reduction or face a retrial. Appeals are possible, and another hearing is scheduled for April 26 to assess additional fees.
British Airways flew 8.1 billion RPKs in February, up 3.6% on the year-ago month, against a 3% rise in capacity to 11.38 billion ASKs. Passenger load factor inched up 0.4 point to 71.2%. Southwest Airlines reported a 17.3% increase in February RPMs to 4.69 billion. Traffic climbed 8.5% to 6.85 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 5.2 points to 68.5%. Ryanair flew 2.6 million passengers in February, an improvement of 22%. Load factor declined 1 point compared to February 2005 to 78%.
SAS Cargo said it had its best-ever result last year as it reported a pre-tax profit of SEK68 million ($8.6 million), up from SEK14 million in 2004, on revenues of SEK3.3 billion, up 17%. EBIT jumped to SEK83 million from SEK35 million. Improvement was achieved in spite of a 5.4% decline in yield.
ANA's codeshare agreement with Skynet Asia Airways ( ATWOnline, Jan. 31) will commence April 1 and calls for the placement of ANA's code on SNA flights from Tokyo Haneda to Miyazaki, Kumamoto and Nagasaki. SNA flights will be available through ANA sales and reservation systems. In addition, SNA will move from Terminal 1 at Haneda to ANA's Terminal 2, where its customers will have access to ANA's self-serve check-in and ticketing kiosks.
ICAO Council elected Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez of Mexico to complete the term of Council President Assad Kotaite, who will step down July 31 after 30 years in the post. Gonzalez, who will take over Aug. 1 and serve for one year, was elected over Philippe Rochat of Switzerland. Gonzalez has served on the Council since January 1998. Kotaite had indicated when he stood for reelection in 2004 that he would not serve his full term. Rochat, a former secretary general of ICAO, is executive director of the Air Transport Action Group.
IATA reported that the world's airlines continued their momentum into the new year as international passenger traffic rose 6.2% in January while airfreight grew 5.3%, suggesting that the world economy may be heating up after last year's second-half slowdown in FTKs. Total passenger capacity climbed 4.6% and cabin factor was 74.6%. Cargo capacity kept pace with the rise in traffic with ATKs up 5.2%. Strongest RPK growth was recorded by Middle East airlines, up 18.3% on an 11.7% rise in ASKs.
Boeing announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Carmen Systems, a Swedish company that provides crew scheduling and disruption management software for airlines and railroads. Carmen, which employs approximately 300 and also operates in Canada and Australia, will become a Jeppesen subsidiary. Details of the transaction were not provided. "Carmen Systems' crew scheduling and optimization, and disruption and recovery management products complement Jeppesen's existing aviation portfolio, bringing us new capabilities," said Boeing Commercial Aviation Services VP and GM Lou Mancini.
Northwest Airlines and negotiators for its pilots union reached a tentative agreement on a new contract Friday afternoon, postponing the near-term possibility that the US Bankruptcy Court will impose a settlement, potentially leading to a walkout by the pilots. In a statement, NWA said the agreement provides all of the $358 million in annual labor and benefit cost savings it is seeking from cockpit crewmembers. Further details were not provided.
Lufthansa Flight Training announced that it will have an A380 flight simulator from Thales available from early 2008. Currently, LFT operates 32 flight simulators of 20 different aircraft types and provides training outside the Lufthansa companies to 100 other airlines.
Aer Lingus announced the following appointments to its senior management team: COO Niall Walsh to deputy chief executive, Greg O'Sullivan to finance director, Enda Corneille to commercial director, Stephen Kavanagh to planning director, Liz White to human resources director and Dick Butler to ground operations director.
American Airlines reported a 2.7% increase in February traffic to 9.86 billion RPMs. Capacity dropped 1.2% to 13.14 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.8 points to 75%. Domestic RPMs increased 2.2% to 6.63 billion as capacity fell 3.5% to 8.5 billion ASMs and load factor rose 4.3 points to 78%. International traffic climbed 3.7% to 3.23 billion RPMs on a 3.4% rise in capacity to 4.65 billion ASMs. Load factor inched up 0.2 point to 69.4%. Continental Airlines said its estimated February consolidated RASM increased 8%-9% over the year-ago month.
International Aero Engines said Adria Airways, the launch customer for the V2500, signed on as the first European customer for the V2500Select aftermarket program, a combined engine upgrade and support initiative. The upgrades will be released in 2008 and retrofitted to Adria's three V2500-powered A320s. Mexicana Airlines also extended its V2500Select agreement to cover its 26 A320s and six spare engines.
Korean Air and AeroMexico announced a codeshare agreement effective March 1 allowing Korean Air passengers arriving in Los Angeles to connect to AeroMexico flights to Mexico City and Guadalajara. AeroMexico passengers will be able to connect through LAX to KAL's Seoul service. The airlines already share loyalty program reciprocity through SkyTeam.
SAS Group extended its communications agreement with Telenor until 2010. The SEK350 million ($43.9 million) deal calls for the supply of all fixed and mobile telephone services to SAS in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
Delta Air Lines and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., are heading to arbitration after the parties were unable to reach an agreement Wednesday evening on a concessionary accord to help the carrier emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Heico Parts Group and China Aviation Import and Export Group Corp. entered into a partnership for the promotion of Heico Aerospace aircraft and engine replacement parts in China.
Air France faces a one-day strike on March 7 as five umbrella organizations of French labor unions plan to join a national demonstration against a new government policy introduced by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin aimed at relaxing employment regulations for young workers. The unions involved are CGT, CFE-CGDC, CFDT, FO and Sud aerien.
Northwest Airlines and its pilots continued to negotiate on a concessionary agreement yesterday even as a ruling by the bankruptcy court on the carrier's bid to impose a new contract was believed to be imminent. The parties originally had until Feb. 17 to reach an accord before Judge Allan Gropper was to have ruled on Northwest's request to cancel its labor agreements but were given an extension through March 1 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 27).
Embattled JAL Group CEO Toshiyuki Shinmachi, who stood fast against an attempted coup by four board members last month ( ATWOnline, Feb. 17), lost his battle to keep his position amid rising discontent and agreed yesterday to relinquish the CEO title and take over as group chairman. Shinmachi will be replaced as CEO following the June shareholders meeting by Senior VP-Finance and Purchasing Haruka Nishimatsu, a board member who joined the airline in 1972. Pending confirmation, Nishimatsu will be promoted to senior MD on all three JAL boards effective April 1.
Royal Brunei Airlines signed an MOU with Garuda Indonesia covering "commercially viable cooperation" including training, MRO, information and distribution technology, ground handling and catering. Separately, Royal Brunei will launch thrice-weekly service to Ho Chi Minh City from May 11.
Proposal by French President Jacques Chirac to impose a global tax on airline tickets to fund development in the Third World ( ATWOnline, March 1) moved forward yesterday as 13 countries including the UK, Norway and Brazil agreed at an international meeting in Paris to impose the tax, Reuters reported. Twenty-five other countries declined to tax air travel but said they will contribute to the new fund, which will be used to fight AIDS and other diseases.
Northwest Airlines and its flight attendants, represented by the Professional Flight Attendants Assn., reached an eleventh-hour agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement yesterday that, if ratified by union members, will result in the carrier achieving the $195 million in labor savings it sought from cabin staff when it entered bankruptcy.
